


Chanukka - Hanukkah -  Llamakah

by s_a_b_i_n_e



Series: Simon's Jewish year [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Jewish Character, Chanukka, Gen, Hanukkah, Jewish Faith, Jewish Holidays, Jewish Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27915199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/s_a_b_i_n_e/pseuds/s_a_b_i_n_e
Summary: Simon, Magnus, and the shadowhunters celebrate their first Chanukka together.
Relationships: Clary Fray/Jace Wayland, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis/Isabelle Lightwood
Series: Simon's Jewish year [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2044096
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	Chanukka - Hanukkah -  Llamakah

**Author's Note:**

> A little something to celebrate the Jewish holiday starting Thursday night.
> 
> Chag sameach! 🕎 Happy holidays!

When Izzy fell in love with Simon she didn't care that he was a vampire, she didn't care that he lived most of his life as a mundane, and she for sure didn't care about him being Jewish.

All this mundane crap of fighting who worships the true God never made sense to her. She served the angels. Of course, they were messengers of God, but she never prayed to God directly. She never asked the Almighty for help or guidance. That's not what she was taught, growing up.

She never gave it a second thought until she met Simon. Simon whose tallit was still buried in the graveyard. Simon who shared Alec's love for bacon cheeseburger, but always got excited whenever he found a kosher sign on one of the foods he learnt to stomach again. Simon who called God _The eternal_ or _Hashem_ , and fasted on Yom Kippur. Simon who didn't keep Shabbat, but never missed lightening the candles, even halfway through a Star Wars marathon.

All these contradictions made it even more obvious how important his religion was for him, not just in a cultural way, but as a deeply ingrained part of his being.

But he wouldn't be Simon Lewis if he didn't manage to cover all of this up with his trademark reaction of turning everything into an explosion of nerdiness, exaggerations, and horseplay.

It wasn't a surprise then that Simon invited all of their friends to a latkes party for the first night of Chanukka.

Izzy liked the idea of an eight day long celebration. Jewish people obviously knew how to party right.

At the door everyone received a silly shirt with a printed llama on it wishing 'Happy Llamakah'. Simon himself wore an ugly sweater with the words 'Oy to the world' and littered with dreidls.

When everyone had arrived, he gave them a short introduction about why Chanukka is celebrated.

"The Maccabees rebelled against a ruler called Antiochus. Under his reign, the Temple in Jerusalem had been desecrated. After purifying it, there wasn't enough sacred oil left to light the huge menorah for more than one day. It takes a shit load of time to produce new oil. They couldn't just take the next best. It was Hashem's homestead after all. But the Eternal did a miracle and the fire lasted for eight days, long enough to produce the new oil. And that's why we light candles for eight days and eat our weight in fried food."

"Latkes!" Clary exclaimed, earning herself an irritated eye-roll from Alec.

Magnus chuckled softly. He would have lied if he said this wasn't the main reason he came here tonight. He could already smell them and his mouth was watering.

The shadowhunters didn't understand their enthusiasm, of course.

"First things first," Simon exclaimed in a fake-serious voice. "Let's light the candles."

Simon switched off the light in the living room and they surrounded the chanukiah on the window sill.

"Wait, you said eight nights. Why are there nine candles?" Jace inquired.

"Very observant. You see, the one here, that is higher than the others? It's called the shamash. That means 'servant'. It's used to light the other candles."

Simon lit the shamash and the candle on the right side. Then he started to say the three blessings in Hebrew for the first evening of the holiday.

As much as they were joking before, everyone fell silent when the first flame threw a warm light on their faces. The ever so buzzy Simon became calm and serious.

The foreign sounds of the brachot tugged at their heartstrings. There was something magical in the air, maybe holy even.

They stood there quietly for a while, just watching the slightly flickering two flames, enjoying the ethereal warmth.

That was until Magnus' stomach started to rumble and the ensuing chuckling broke the spell that had enveloped them all.

Simon chuckled, too. "No one will be hungry at my home. My mother would kill me if she knew. Well, kill me again. Come on, it's latkes time!"

Clary cheered. "Do you have sour cream?" she asked.

"What kind of question is that?" Simon scoffed. "Of course. Like applesauce and lox."

"Do you have sufganiyot, too?" Magnus asked hopefully.

"Oh, an expert. Sure thing. Couldn't go without them!"

"Sufga-what?" Alec inquired.

"Sufganiyot. Jelly filled doughnuts," Magnus explained.

Alec groans. "I will be so sick when you portal us home."

"That's what Jewish holidays are about, Alec. Someone tried to kill us or annihilate our culture, they weren't successful, we eat until we burst," Simon laughs. "And there will be chocolate, too, when we play dreidl later."

"Good we're not on patrol tonight," Izzy assesses, eyeing the golden coins on the coffee table.

Simon grins and gives her a kiss. "You forgot that there are seven more days of this."


End file.
